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title: Getting Started with Managing an Instance
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# Getting Started with Managing an Instance

> For the full documentation index, see: https://docs.mulesoft.com/llms.txt

You can use API Manager to apply policies and to add contracts, alerts, and SLA tiers to your API
instance. Additionally, you can configure a runtime for your API that runs in CloudHub or CloudHub
2.0. Although you can also deploy your API runtime using Mule runtime engine (Mule) and Hybrid,
deploying your API proxy directly to CloudHub is the fastest and easiest.

> [!NOTE] If you are running an API with a standalone server, use the
> [classic API creation flows](https://docs.mulesoft.com/api-manager/latest/create-instance-task-mule) to manage your API.

You can manage your instance using the following steps:

1.  [Create an API asset in Exchange](https://docs.mulesoft.com/exchange/to-create-an-asset#create-an-api-asset)

    You can create a REST, HTTP (including the WebSocket subtype), AsyncAPI, SOAP, gRPC, or GraphQL
    API asset in Exchange and manage it as an API instance in API Manager.

2.  [Add an API Instance in API Manager](https://docs.mulesoft.com/api-manager/latest/api-instance-landing-page)

    An instance represents a proxy or component that serves an upstream. API instances support the
    application of policies and can be deployed to an API gateway.

3.  [Apply a Policy in API Manager](https://docs.mulesoft.com/mule-gateway/policies-included-apply)

    A policy extends the functionality of an instance and enforces certain capabilities such as
    security. A policy can control access and traffic. For example, a policy can generally control
    authentication, access, allotted consumption, and service level access (SLA).

## See Also

- [Learn about SLA Tiers](https://docs.mulesoft.com/api-manager/latest/defining-sla-tiers)

- [Learn about granting access to an API](https://docs.mulesoft.com/api-manager/latest/api-contracts-landing-page)

- [More on API proxies](https://docs.mulesoft.com/api-manager/latest/api-proxy-landing-page)